Primary and Reflected Compaction Waves in a Foam Rod Due to an Axial Impact by a Small Mass

The propagation of compaction waves in a stationary foam block subjected to an impact by a small mass is studied in order to examine the mechanism of compaction within the primary and reflected stress waves. The analysis is focused on aluminium strain rate insensitive foam that exhibits strain hardening under quasistatic compression. A theoretical approach is applied using a uniaxial model of compaction in which the compacted strains, being functions of the velocity variation, are not predefined but are obtained as a part of the solution. The present approach allows one to obtain the strain histories and strain distributions within the primary compaction wave as well as within the reflected wave, which propagates in a media with non-uniform density increasing monotonically in the direction of loading. FE simulations considering aluminium based foam Cymat with density 411.5 kg/m3 are carried out in order to verify the proposed theoretical model. A comparison between the impact velocity attenuation predicted by the present model and classical Rigid Perfectly-Plastic Locking material model for cellular materials is discussed.